Tag Archives: next left

Stephen Tall

Shouldn’t Labour MPs just nominate the candidate they think is best for the job?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 5th June 2010 - 10:50 am

I’ve been intrigued these past couple of days to see the main Labour blogs fall over themselves to argue that the current three front-runners for the Labour leadership – now they have the MP nominations needed to be on the ballot – should urge their parliamentary colleagues to nominate one of the three also-ran contenders to ensure “the widest possible field of candidates in the leadership election”.

I can understand the principle behind the campaign, of course. Frankly, if I were in the shoes of a Labour member (as I was for a number of years), I …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 21 Comments
Mark Pack

Now the Daily Mail thinks election is about leader’s wife’s underwear

By Mark Pack | Sun 25th April 2010 - 9:23 pm

Elections used to about politicians. Then they became about politicians and their spouses. Now the Daily Mail introduces us to politicians, their spouses and their underwear choices with a “story” about where Miriam Gonzalez Durantez buys her underwear.

As Next Left points out, the story doesn’t have a name to it – just the generic “Daily Mail reporter” by-line. I wonder why?

UPDATE: As pointed out by several people on Twitter, the News of the World ran a similar piece first.

UPDATE 2: And as for Jan Moir’s contribution: sigh.

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

How can we sell the Single Transferable Vote to the public?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th February 2010 - 10:25 am

The last 24 hours’ focus on voting systems – surely every Lib Dem’s dream come true? – have highlighted just how hard it will be to gain acceptance for the party’s preferred proportional voting system, the single transferable vote.

It’s no surprise that almost all MPs from the two establishment parties, Labour and the Tories, are desperate to hold onto the electoral system that secures their cosy hold on power: just five Labour/Tory MPs voted to include STV in any referendum on voting reform.

But it will also be the case that a significant portion of the country will …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 42 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • John B Grout
    Excellent piece, Josh. As for seeking others' thoughts on the pitch, here are mine: Labour and the Greens want to do things for you, the Conservatives and R...
  • David Evans
    It's an interesting article, which gives us more to think about, but when it ends with "Government and politics can strive toward this platform ... giving ind...
  • Neil Sandison
    This one of a series of articles recently published in the Liberal Democrat Voice that defines our social liberal values . Frequently the hot house of Westminst...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    This is the right problem to be working on, and I think the answer may be less about the words than about the moments. In my experience people learn what we sta...
  • Simon Robinson
    It's good to have an MP putting herself forward for this. The manifesto seems a bit vague though. All good thoughts and nothing you can really disagree with, b...